UK: Customer Accidentally Smashes $60K Bottle of Cognac

Hemera/Thinkstock(LONDON) — A clumsy customer shelled out more than $10,000 for two glasses of the world’s most expensive cognac at London’s Playboy Club late last week. Afterward, he accidentally dropped the 234-year-old bottle of liquor, valued at $60,000.

London’s Evening Standard reports the haughty hooch was destined for a Guinness Record for the world’s most expensive cocktail, but when the customer lifted the bottle of 1788 Clos de Griffier Vieux, he bobbled it, sending it smashing against the floor.

Master mixologist Salvatore Calabrese was to craft an Old and Wise with the centuries-old cognac, part of his million dollar-plus collection of old spirits. He is still in mourning.

“We all just froze, then it sunk in,” he said. “I’ve been heartbroken. Not because of the value of the bottle, but because it is a piece of history that has been lost.”

And because the bottle was opened, any insurance on it was voided. The customer, a businessman friend of the barman, remains anonymous.